A Psychedelic Claymation Music Video Channels 'Gumby' on LSD

By Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg

A vibrant, inventive little world blossoms in a music video for Vadoinmessico, a London-based, "nostalgic psychedelic freak-folk" band. Rafael Bonilla Jr.'s signature animation style matches the playful vibe of their track, "Teeo," from their album Archeology of the Future. Make sure to watch full screen to appreciate the amazing handcrafted detail in every frame.

Bonilla shared some background on the making of the labor-intensive short in a note to the Atlantic Video channel:

The video took around three months to complete. It seems like a long time for a four-minute video, but stop-motion is a slow process. Every 24 frames that I shot with my camera equaled to one second of video. Most of the characters are modeled in plasticine and the ones that required more complex movement have a wire armature, which is like a skeleton that allowed me to pose them with greater ease. I pictured these characters living in a pastiche "craft" world, so the props and sets were made of different materials like cardboard, balsa wood and polymer clay.